about
since 2013, in troy.
The COG started with a question: how do you keep talented graduates in the Capital Region after they leave RPI and UAlbany? The answer, we decided, was a place.
A 15,000 sq ft place in the historic Quackenbush Building at 30 3rd St., full of the tools and people that turn ideas into objects of art and utility. We opened our doors in 2013 and we’ve been here every day since.
Today we run a makerspace, a prototyping center, a NYS-certified manufacturing incubator, and a kids’ STEAM program (the ThinQubator). We’re a member-supported 501(c)(3) and we serve makers from Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties — plus anyone willing to drive in.
everyone is a maker. the only requirement is a passion to create.
Our values are simple, and we mean them: be excellent to each other. everyone is a maker. and — a favorite from the workshop — don’t set on fire that which has not been designed to be on fire. Come visit: free tours every Tuesday at 7pm.
be excellent to each other
the people behind the gears.
jordan ellis
executive director
Keeps the lights on, the grants in, and the CoG turning.
priya nandakumar
shop manager
Runs safety certs and knows every machine by its hum.
marcus webb
thinqubator lead
Turns curious kids into confident makers, one Saturday at a time.
lena vasquez
incubator coach
Helps hardware founders get from prototype to pilot run.
we started at the cog
makers, in their own words.
I walked in to use a 3D printer and walked out with a co-founder. Creative collisions are real — this place is where mine happened.
My kid did one ThinQubator Saturday and now our kitchen table is a soldering station. Best thing to happen to our weekends.
24/7 access to a metal shop for the price of a gym membership. I prototyped my whole first product line here at 2am.
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